Sultan Cem

Sultan Cem (22 December 1459-25 February 1495) was a pretender to the Ottoman throne during the late 15th century. Cem was exiled to Rome by his brother Bayezid II, his rival, and he befriended the youths of the House of Borgia. However, Juan Borgia the Younger had him poisoned and smothered with a pillow in order to collect a bounty on his head, which could be used to pay his sister Lucrezia Borgia's dowry.

Biography
Sultan Cem was born in Edirne, Ottoman Empire in 1459, the son of Mehmed II and Cicek Hatun. He became governor of Kastamonu in 1469 at the age of nine, and he became Governor of Karaman in Konya after the death of his brother Mustafa in 1474. After his father's death in 1481, Cem was left as the ruler of Karaman and Konya, while his brother Bayezid II controlled Sivas, Tokat, and Amasya. The two brothers argued over the succession to the throne, and the Janissaries supported Bayezid over Mehmed; Cem rebelled in May 1481 after Bayezid was crowned Sultan. Cem defeated Bayezid's army in battle and declared himself Sultan of Anatolia, establishing his capital at Bursa. On 19 June 1481, however, Bayezid defeated Cem at Yenisehir, and he was forced to flee to Mamluk Cairo. In 1482, he attempted to return to power by besieging Ankara, but he was defeated and forced to flee to Rhodes. The Knights of St. John imprisoned him on the orders of Bayezid, and Cem was sent to France. In 1489, Cem arrived in Rome, and he stayed there under Pope Alexander VI, who was paid 40,000 florins annually to take care of him. Cem befriended Juan Borgia the Younger, Cesare Borgia, and Lucrezia Borgia, and Lucrezia fell in love with the charming Sultan Cem.

Death
Soon, Juan Borgia became aware of an offer of 400,000 florins from Sultan Bayezid to kill Sultan Cem, his rival; the Pope needed this money to pay for Lucrezia's dowry, so he had Juan take care of it for him. Cem, who had befriended Cesare, confessed to him that he wanted to convert to Christianity, as he loved reading the Gospels of Saint Matthew and reading about the promotion of brotherhood in the faith. However, that afternoon, Sultan Cem was poisoned by a Papal cook on the orders of Juan Borgia. The cantarella did not mix with the sugar in his drink, leaving him in a state of agony, and Juan was forced to smother Cem with a pillow, shortly after Cem realized that Juan had betrayed him. The cook was garrotted by Micheletto Corella for failing to assassinate Cem.